


On The Road Again

by carrionkid



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Family Feels, Gen, I'm Sad About Gamora And Nebula, Organized Crime, Road Trips, Unintentional Adoption, kragdu if you squint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-28
Updated: 2017-07-08
Packaged: 2018-11-20 01:58:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 18,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11326296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carrionkid/pseuds/carrionkid
Summary: Title is from the Willie Nelson song. This is an AU in which Yondu starts running drugs and guns for Ego after getting out of prison. It's about organized crime in a small town and unintentional adoption. I wanted to try my hand at a modern au that kinda follows the plot of the second movie. Peter Quill goes through more shit than any teenager ought to.--Yondu Udonta is a man with nothing left to lose. That’s the only way he would end up so deeply entrenched in something guaranteed to crash and burn and destroy him along with it. Still, his life was ruined a long time ago.





	1. Take the Money and Run

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Yondu accidentally walks into a murder scene and acquires a child.

Of all the things Ego’s had him run, a kid should theoretically be the easiest. All he has to do is go grab the kid and if the kid doesn’t want to come, well, he won’t be able to do a damn thing if Yondu just picks him up and carries him out. Then, it was just a matter of making sure he got from point A to point B. 

 

He’d gotten the call a couple months ago, all Ego had said was he needed Yondu to pick up his son. There wasn’t a date or a location or even a name, just a promise that he’d get enough money that he’d never need to work again. At the time, Yondu figured that Ego was probably finally skipping town.

 

He has almost forgotten about the promise when the call comes through. It’s four in the morning, the sound of his ringtone cuts through the quiet of the night like a knife. A tinny voice sings out ‘ _ go on, take the money and run!’,  _ the ringtone he set specifically for Ego. He curses the day he ever answered the ad looking for a delivery driver under his breath. Of course it was too fucking good to be true. He answers the call.

 

“458 Western Pines Way,” the voice on the other end says.

 

Leave it to Ego to be as clear as mud. 

 

“What?” Yondu mumbles, voice thick with sleep and words laced with the unspoken sentiment that it’s way too fucking early to be dealing with him.

 

“I need you to get my son, bring him out to the warehouses we usually meet at.”

 

Yondu’s mind isn’t working fast enough to comprehend any of this, “Huh?”

 

“Get. The. Kid. Bring. Him. To. The. Warehouse. Understand?” Ego’s getting impatient.

 

“Yeah, yeah, got it. Git your kid an’ bring him to you,” Yondu sits up on his bed and hangs up. He drags his hands down his face and gives himself a second to pull himself together. 

 

Yondu has been running goods for Ego for the better part of a year. Mostly guns and drugs, but at some point he realized it was better to just stop asking questions about what was in the back of his car. It was either work for Ego or for the Kree family and he isn’t exactly on the best of terms with the latter.

 

He pulls a shirt and some pants on, then laces up his boots and gets up. He keeps his step light, a trick he learned long ago at one of the group homes he jumped between. He’s only sneaking around as a courtesy. Kraglin knows about the guns and the drugs, but that’s no reason to wake him up at four in the morning, providing the ringtone didn’t already wake him up. He grabs his keys on the way out of the beaten up trailer and locks the door behind him.

 

He slides behind the wheel of his red Pontiac Firebird, fixed up with Ego’s money just like everything else in his life, and pushes down the thought that there’s no good reason in the entire world to go grab a kid this early in the morning. With his guilty conscience reasonably stifled, Yondu keys the address into his GPS. It was a gift from Ego, just like his phone. Well, nothing’s really a  _ gift  _ from Ego, more of an obligation.  _ I gave you this, now you owe me. _ Ego said he needed a phone and a GPS if Yondu was gonna drive for him.

 

The night is a deep, inky blue, and he feels entirely, completely alone. The sight of the stars above him almost makes all the bullshit of small town life worth it. If it weren’t for his obligation to Ego, he’d almost be enjoying this. Two years later and he still isn’t used to being out. It’s a sticky, hot summer night but with the windows rolled down, it’s almost tolerable. The constant scream of cicadas is drowned out by the sound of wind rushing into the car. 

 

Yondu Udonta is a man with nothing left to lose. That’s the only way he would end up so deeply entrenched in something guaranteed to crash and burn and destroy him along with it. Still, his life was ruined a long time ago. 

 

The overly obnoxious beeping of the GPS indicates that his destination is on his right. He turns onto a long gravel driveway and mentally prepares himself for dealing with the kid. He knows firsthand how obnoxious and vexing they can be, since he’s been shoved from foster home to group home to foster home to group home more times than he can count. 

 

The lights are off in the house. It’s not new or well kept by any means. The shingles are falling in patches like the skin peeling from a bad sunburn and the facade of the house is slowly being swallowed by ivy. Still, it looks like the kind of place that would be nice to raise a child. There’s another car in the driveway and Yondu’s beginning to think he’s been asked to kidnap Ego’s son. 

 

He’s been conditioned enough to blindly trust Ego that even when he thinks twice, he’s still pretty sure the money's worth it. Yondu cuts the ignition on his car and gets out. The sound of his boots crunching the gravel is as loud as a jackhammer, at least to him, and he hopes whoever’s home can’t hear him. He feels much less jumpy when he gets to the grass, the soft, damp soil muffles his footsteps. When he gets to the porch, he finds the door already open.

 

The lock is busted. Not a good sign. Yondu isn’t the biggest fan of guns, but he does keep a knife on his hip just in case. He draws it now and pushes the door open. It creaks on its hinges, a low, mournful whine, but no one reacts. He doesn’t bother trying the lights, his eyes have already adjusted to the darkness. Crossing the threshold into the house causes the hair on the back of his neck to stand up. Yondu doesn’t believe in ESP or any of that bullshit, but instincts don’t lie. Something is very wrong here.

 

He makes sure to keep his steps light, stopping every few paces to listen and make sure no one is waiting for him. Yondu is so busy looking for threats that he almost trips over the dead lady. She is lying half on the floor and half on the stairway. Yondu reckons she’d be pretty if her face wasn’t partially demolished by a gunshot. Blood makes her blond curls look greasy and slick. The thick droplets on her white summer dress almost look intentional, a gradient of polka dots. Her one intact eye is wide open and her palms are facing up, held up beside her head.

 

Yondu wonders if she was begging for her life, because it sure as hell looks like she was. Her arms and legs are bruised, probably put up a hell of a fight. The thought is cut short by the realization that the kid might still be in the house. He’s a touch more superstitious than he cares to admit; he crouches down next to the woman and slides her eye closed, then he moves her arms to her stomach, crossing them gently. She’s cold but not stiff; she wasn’t killed that long ago. 

 

Yondu shuts his eyes and focuses on listening. It’s leaving him vulnerable but he has to be sure. The sound of the cicadas is damn near overwhelming but sure enough, he can hear something. The noise is coming from upstairs and sounds an awful lot like crying. It’s probably the kid. He steps around the woman, careful not to disturb her. It’s the least he can do, she’s dead and she ain’t coming back, but that doesn’t mean he has to disturb her.

 

He steps on each stair gingerly, making sure it doesn’t creak too loud. The process is agonizing, but he doesn’t want to do anything risky. Yondu follows the noise into a small bedroom. The kid isn’t anywhere that’s in plain sight, so Yondu gets creative. He kneels down, peering under the bed, but comes up empty. His next guess is the closet. The kid must’ve heard him because the room goes silent. Yondu opens the closet door as quietly as he can, fully prepared for Ego’s son to go running. 

 

Instead, he finds the boy curled up small, tucked away in the corner of the closet with a pair of orange headphones on. He’s shaking with the effort of not making a sound while sobbing. Then, he looks up, pulling his headphones off his ears. He’s a freckly kid and when he opens his mouth, Yondu can see a couple of baby teeth missing.

 

“Y-you gonna kill me too? Like you killed my momma?”

 

Yondu crouches down, “Naw, I ain’t the one who killed her, but the one who did it might still be hangin’ ‘round. So we gotta be quick an’ get outta here ‘fore they wise up to us bein’ here.”

 

The kid nods, a robotic looking action, and stands up. When he steps into the pale blue moonlight spilling into the room, Yondu realizes the kid doesn’t have freckles. It’s a fine mist of blood, splattered on the kid’s pale skin. Poor boy saw his momma die in front of him. 

 

“Why’d you come for me?” the kid’s voice is quiet, “Did’ya know she was gonna get killed?”

 

“Get some clothes together,” Yondu makes an effort to sound soft, “I didn’t know nothin’. Your daddy just sent me to get you an’ bring you to him.” 

 

The boy tries to shove a couple pieces of clothing into a small backpack, hands shaking so bad that he keeps dropping the clothes, “My dad?”

 

“Uh-huh,” Yondu takes over packing for him, just to get it done faster.

 

“He never said nothin’ to me before. Momma told me to forget ‘bout him…” Yondu sets the backpack down as the boy grabs a stuffed bear off of his bed and zips the backpack up so the bear has it’s head poking out, “Is he nice?”   
  


Yondu isn’t sure what to say.  _ No, he’s not. I’ve been helping him commit crimes.  _ No, that’d just make the kid more upset. Plus, he’s starting to get the feeling that Ego’s the one behind all of this. Not sure why he’d kill the mother of his son but Ego’s intentions are well hidden from the rest of the world. Stepping out onto the landing, Yondu realizes that the kid doesn’t need to see his momma in that condition twice in the same night.

 

“I’m gonna pick you up an’ I need you to close your eyes real tight,” he explains.

 

The boy is smart enough to know why; he nods and Yondu picks him up. The kid puts his hands over his eyes and lets out another little sob. Yondu starts down the stairs, again taking care to not touch the lady. He pauses and gives her a look,  _ I ain’t gonna let him get your boy. _

 

Yondu doesn’t set the boy down until he gets to his car. He unlocks it with the key and helps the kid up into the back seat. The kid unzips the bear from his backpack and grabs onto it like it’s the only thing in the world that makes sense, then lies down on the back seat. Yondu shuts the door as quietly as he can and takes a pack of smokes out of his jacket pocket. 

 

What now? He can’t exactly call the police considering his situation with Ego, not that they’d do much good considering almost all of them are in the pocket of the Kree family. He leans against the car, lights a cigarette, and takes a long drag before getting out his phone and calling Kraglin.


	2. Road to Nowhere

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Kraglin is the kind of friend willing to help you bury a body, Ego is a conniving asshole, and Yondu + Kraglin go on a roadtrip and try to ignore the fact that they're on the run and also kind of kidnappers.

Kraglin is his... Roommate? Friend? Something like that. They’d met a couple years into Yondu’s sentence. Kraglin had been in for a few months, stuck to himself and didn’t say why he’d came, then he’d been let out. Of course he was back again in a few months, doing stints off and on until the end of Yondu’s sentence. He’s a fucking mystery, that’s what he is. But he’s a helpful mystery who doesn’t ask too many questions.

 

“Krags, I’m gonna need some help.”

 

Kraglin sounds half asleep, “Need bail money?”

 

Yondu exhales smoke and bites back a comment about how he’s only been in prison once, unlike _some people,_ “Stumbled into a murder scene.”

 

There’s silence on the other side of the phone, then Kraglin speaks again, “Shiiiiit. You done it?”

 

Yondu isn’t even gonna dignify that with a reply.

 

Kraglin gets the idea and continues, “Jus’ askin’. Wouldn’t care if you did.”

 

“No. I ain’t killed nobody.”

 

“Almost killed that Kree guy.”

 

Yondu is suddenly remembering why he never wakes Kraglin up in the middle of the night, it’s the one and only time he’s ever talkative, “Only ‘cos he almost killed me first.”

 

“Fair enough. Need me to come help bury the body?” Kraglin yawns.

 

“Naw,” he says, dropping his cigarette and grinding it under his heel, “Probably easier to ‘splain when I get back.”

 

He looks into the back of the car and sure enough the kid looks like he’s asleep. Yondu still doesn’t know his name, but he isn’t exactly just gonna wake him up and ask.

 

* * *

 

 

When Yondu pulls up to the Winnebago, Kraglin is sitting on the hood of his car. It’s not currently hitched up to the RV and Kraglin stares directly into the headlights like they aren’t blinding him at all. Yondu has to admit that he’s creepy if you get on his bad side. He has a way of moving that makes your skin crawl if you know he doesn’t like you. Yondu stops the car and opens up the back seat, shaking the kid awake to lead him out of the car.

 

Kraglin slides off of the hood of the car, “Thought you weren’t gonna bring work home.”

 

Yondu shrugs, “Confoundin’ circumstances.”

 

The kid yawns, the realization that his life is fundamentally different now hasn’t totally sunk in yet. Yondu guides him into the RV because it’ll be better if the kid starts screaming inside. The boy can’t run off that way.

 

“So we got a kid now? Things sure are movin’ fast ‘tween us,” Kraglin smirks.

 

Yondu punches his arm, just hard enough to drive the point home that the joke isn’t appreciated, “Pretty sure Ego killed his momma. He called, asked me to go get the kid but neglected to mention the dead body.”

 

“Much as it kills me to say it, I don’t think we oughta give him over,” Kraglin sighs.

 

Yondu makes a noise of confirmation just as the kid is starting to realize that his life as he knew it is over.

 

He chokes out a loud sob and drops to the ground hugging himself, “S-s-she’s dead!”

 

Yondu really isn’t sure what to do, so he sits down next to the kid on the stained linoleum. The boy looks up when Yondu puts a hand on his back. The tears in combination with him rubbing his eyes has smeared the blood all over his face.

 

“Kid’s still got blood on him!” Kraglin looks horrified, “You didn’t think to clean ‘im off?!”

 

“I was kinda busy!” Yondu shouts back as the kid starts to cry again. Kraglin tosses him a raggedy, damp bandana and Yondu does his best to wipe all of the blood off. The kid looks down at his stained red hands and starts blubbering again. Yondu wipes the boy’s hands off.

 

“What’s your name?” Yondu’s trying to distract him.

 

The boy wipes his nose with the back of his hand, “Peter… But my momma calls me Star-Lord....”

 

“Okay, Peter, you ain’t goin’ off with your daddy, you’re gonna stay with us for a while.”

 

Peter doesn’t look too thrilled with the idea of living with them, but he nods.

 

“Now you’re gonna go sleep an’ we’ll talk in the mornin’ ‘cos you probably jus’ had the worst night of your little life,” Yondu lifts the kid up into the overhead loft bed above the small space that passes for a living room in the trailer.

 

“What now?” Kraglin asks, sitting with his feet up on the dinette table.

 

“Huh?”

 

“You stole a kid. What now?”

 

Yondu cracks his knuckles and scratches his face, “Dunno. Think it can wait ‘til after breakfast.”

 

Kraglin gives him an incredulous look, “It’s five in the mornin’.”

 

“I ain’t goin’ back to sleep. Don’t think you are either,” Yondu shrugs. He opens the small refrigerator, next to the sink and stovetop. They don’t have much other than eggs, but they’ll do. He puts a pan on the stovetop and cracks four eggs into it once it’s heated up.

 

“So, when’s your boss expectin’ the kid?”

 

Yondu shrugs and goes back to trying to flip the eggs. He’s sliding them onto a plate when he hears his phone go off.

 

_Go on, take the money and run!_

 

“Fuck. It’s him callin’ now,” Yondu sets the plate down on the table, Kraglin pulls it towards him.

 

“Let it go to voicemail, make him think you can’t get to your phone.”

 

Yondu nods and grabs a couple of clean looking forks, then sits down next to Kraglin at the dinette. Yondu pulls the phone out of his pocket and sets it down on the table. The call goes to voicemail and there’s a few minutes of silence before it starts going off, vibrating near constantly like a seriously pissed off beehive. Ego’s switched over to texting now.

 

_Where are you?_

 

_Yondu, where are you?_

 

_You got the boy yet?_

 

_WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU?_

 

_YOU THINK YOU CAN TAKE FROM ME, UDONTA?_

 

_I OWN YOU. DON’T FORGET THAT._

 

Kraglin speaks around a mouthful of food, “Hey, he gave you the phone, righ’?”

 

Yondu nods.

 

“Then he prob’ly knows where we’s stayin’ at.”

 

It’s as if all the blood in his veins froze. His heart is in his throat; now he knows all too well what Ego is capable of. Shit. Why didn’t he think about that. There’s always a catch with Ego.

 

He powers the phone off and thinks for a second, “Got a hammer ‘round here?”

 

Kraglin looks confused, so Yondu continues, “Gonna smash it. Don’t want him trackin’ us down if he ain’t done it already.”

 

Kraglin gestures over to one of the small storage spaces and gives him a look that can only mean _good fuckin’ luck findin’ one._ Yondu manages to find one in the absolute clusterfuck of the quote unquote tool cabinet. He strikes the phone hard, once in the center, shattering the screen. Peter rolls over in the loft bed and gives them a piercing look.

 

“Go back to sleep, boy,” Kraglin says, not moving away from the table. Yondu strikes the hammer against the phone again and again, making sure there’s no way it’d still be functional. He opens the door to the trailer, steps out into the woods, and chucks it as far as he can.

 

When he gets back inside, Kraglin pushes him the rest of the eggs, “We gotta leave.”

 

“ _We?”_ Yondu raises his eyebrows, “Thought you don’t want me bringin’ work home an’ all.”

 

Kraglin jerks his thumb over towards Peter, “Bit late for that. Besides, Ego prob’ly already knows you live with me.”

 

Yondu slides into the dinette seating, “Can’t just ask you to leave.”

 

“I don’t ‘xactly have much goin’ for me,” Kraglin laughs, “I work at a fuckin’ gas station and the two years you been livin’ with me is the longest I’ve been outta prison in the past fifteen years. So yeah, let’s go on a roadtrip an’ try to pretend it ain’t ‘cos we’re runnin’ from Ego.”

 

“Well, we better go real quick, he’s likely got someone out lookin’ for us already,” Yondu drags his hands down his face and tries to remember exactly how he got in this situation. That’s right, the Kree guy. You get in _one fight_ when you’re barely twenty and everything’s fucked up forever.

 

Kraglin stands up and navigates out of the dinette booth, “Then let’s get to work.”

 

* * *

 

 

They keep the TV on as background noise. It’s not the smartest thing but it’s better than jumping at every noise because he’s certain it has to be one of Ego’s goons, or, even worse, Ego himself. They’ve put away everything they can and secured all the cabinets when Kraglin freezes.

 

“That’s you, innit?”

 

Yondu follows his line of sight to the TV, “Course it ain’t me, why would I be on TV?”

 

“Naw, it’s _definitely_ you.”

 

Yondu stops and actually looks at the screen this time, he can’t be sure if the picture on the screen is actually him because it cuts away to a teary-eyed man in a suit. He looks familiar but Yondu can’t place it until the man starts talking.

 

“Please, if you’re out there and you see my son, contact your police forces. He’s eight years old and his name is Peter, and I just want him home.”

 

Ego. It’s fucking Ego. Asshole cleans up nice, he’ll give him that, but what the fuck is he _doing?!_

 

The image comes up on the screen again and Yondu almost doesn’t recognize the man in the picture. It’s undeniably him, but much younger. It’s his mugshot from when he first got arrested, complete with a bright red gelled mohawk and a broken nose. He doesn’t bother gelling or dyeing his hair anymore and the broken nose has long since healed.

 

“I have reason to believe that this man, Yondu Udonta, is involved in the murder of Meredith Quill and the abduction of my son. Please keep an eye out for him.”

 

Kraglin runs his hands through his hair, “Shiiiiiiiiiiiit.”

 

“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!” Yondu kicks the wall as hard as he can without kicking a hole in Kraglin’s trailer because they can’t get in a fight now, “Asshole’s fuckin’ framin’ me!”

 

Kraglin puts a hand on his shoulder, steadying him, “We gotta go. Right now.”


	3. Dream Police

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time skip! Peter is 17 now and has grown up on the road since he was 8. I might come back and write some things about Peter growing up on the road in this AU but i just needed the first two chapters to lay the framework of this au. 
> 
> In which Peter has a nightmare, Yondu gets a call from an old friend, and they end up having to go back to the place where it all started. This is just the beginning.

_Peter can’t see her face, it’s curtained by blond curls. He can only see her teeth, bared like a wild animal; the space where her eyes would be is shadowed. He’s standing behind her, she doesn’t scream. The man steps towards her and she steps back, almost like they’re dancing. He steps whenever she does. They keep up the weird dance until she stumbles on the first step of the stairs. Then, the man is holding a gun. He can never see where the man gets the gun from, it’s just not there one second and there the next._

 

_“Petey, I’m gonna need you to run, can you do that?” her voice is quiet, hoarse and desperate._

 

_He’s standing behind her one second, then the next he’s standing behind the man. The gun goes off and Peter squeezes his eyes shut like he always does. When he opens them again, he’s standing behind her, small and stuck in place. She reaches her hands back as she falls, almost like she’s reaching for him. Then, hot sticky blood hits his face._

 

He shoots awake, smacking his head against the roof of the trailer, something he still does even after all these years. He rubs the sore spot on his head and focuses on regulating his breathing. When his heart doesn’t feel like it’s gonna burst out of his chest anymore, he swings his legs over the edge of the overhead bed and drops down. Kraglin is sitting at the dinette, nursing a beer, and thankfully isn’t going to say anything about what just happened.

 

“Mornin’,” Kraglin says, despite the fact that it’s about eleven o’clock at night, then he holds out the beer, “Want one?”

 

The novelty of underage drinking really wears off when your guardians are so relaxed about it, Peter shakes his head, “Naw, goin’ for a walk.”

 

Kraglin nods as Peter throws on his leather jacket. It’s one of Yondu’s old ones; it doesn’t fit him quite yet on account of the fact that he’s still an awkward gangly seventeen year old. The leather is worn and soft and as much as Peter doesn’t want to admit it, it smells kind of like home. Not _his_ home, but the strange situation he’s called home for almost ten years. He swings the door open and steps out into the night.

 

It’s cold enough that he flips the collar up and draws the jacket around himself. The air smells like fire and smoke but he can’t identify the source. They’re in the woods off of a winding back road. Peter can’t see the road, which means no one driving by can see them. He cards a hand through his hair as he turns into the woods; there’s about an inch and a half of reddish blond at his roots, shining through the black dye. A few towns back, he’d finally put his foot down and said that if someone hasn’t recognized him in almost ten years, he probably won’t be recognized if he stops dyeing his hair.

 

* * *

 

 

Kraglin nudges Yondu awake, “Pete went out.”

 

Yondu isn’t too happy about being woken up, he yawns and kicks Kraglin off the end of the bed, but it’s a courtesy. He might not like to admit it, or even know that it’s true, but he’s a worrier through and through.

 

“Don’t need’ta know everythin’ the kid does,” he mutters, but he sits up anyway, getting ready to wait until Peter gets back safe and sound. Kraglin passes him a beer as he slides into the dinette.

 

Yondu is in the middle of drifting off at the table when his phone goes off. He pulls it out of his pocket, eyes wide with panic, and sets it down on the table.

 

“You gonna answer that?” Kraglin raises an eyebrow.

 

“Fuck no. What if it’s Ego?” Yondu says despite the fact that Ego hasn’t called once since they left. It would ruin the illusion that he has no connections to Yondu.

 

“If it’s Ego, we’ll just smash it an’ get another one,” Kraglin shrugs, “Might be someone important, don’t know many people who know this number.”

 

Yondu sighs, relenting, and picks the phone up.

 

“Yondu, that you?”

 

He can’t place the voice exactly, but it’s definitely not Ego’s.

 

“You’d’ve hung up if it wasn’t you,” the voice sounds exasperated.

 

Then, it hits him, he knows the man on the other end of the phone, “Stakar?”

 

There’s a hum of confirmation, then Stakar adds, “I need you to come home.”

 

Yondu’s expression shifts from an open mouthed look of shock to a snarl, “So now you want me to come back?! Only decided that ten years after I needed ya!”

 

“Don’t you dare think that I wanted to throw you out, but I ain’t sorry I did it.”

 

Yondu cuts the other man off, “You was the closest thing I had to a family an’ you threw me out!”

 

“I was fine with letting you ruin your life, ’cos I knew I couldn’t stop you, but I wasn’t gonna let you ruin mine,” Stakar’s voice is still level and calm.

 

“My life was ruined a long time ago,” Yondu spits the words at his feet, “Couldn’t get a job anywhere reputable on account’a my history wi’ the Kree family. You was the only one what would talk to me in the whole damn town! All of them was just lookin’ for a reason to send me back up the river ‘cos they knew they’d be able to do it jus’ like they did the first goddamn time!”

 

Stakar sighs, “I know, just _need_ you to come home,” his voice shakes just a bit, Yondu’s rant succeeded in rattling him.

 

That, or Ego’s the one who put him up to this. Shit. That’s what it is, why else would Stakar call him? How else would he get the number of what has to be at least Yondu’s 50th burner cell?

 

“He listenin’?” Yondu drops his voice low.

 

There’s no reply, so Yondu asks another question, “He there wi’ you?”

 

“Just come home, it’s important.”

 

The line goes dead. There’s a few minutes of silence, Yondu still has the phone in his hands and it’s like the moment is frozen in time.

 

Then, Kraglin speaks up, “Who was that?”

 

“A fuckin’ asshole,” Yondu throws the phone back down on the table, “But he don’t deserve to be caught in the middle of all o’ this.”

 

He sits down at the dinette again and drags his hands down his face trying to formulate a plan.

 

“So, we goin’ back for him?”

 

Yondu sighs, leaning his head against the cracked plastic of the dinette, “Prob’ly owe him back for takin’ me in when I got out.”

 

Kraglin takes another swig of beer, “This Stakar guy sure means a lot to you.”

 

“Grew up in one o’ the same group homes,” Yondu explains.

 

“Uh-huh,” Kraglin isn’t gonna push it, there has to be a reason Yondu hasn’t said anything about him in the nine or so years they’ve known each other. Of course, since nothing can be easy, Peter steps through the door.

 

“What’s wi’ him?” he gestures to Yondu.

 

“We’re goin’ home, Pete.”

 

He’d think that the man was joking, but Kraglin looks grim.

 

Peter eyes them both warily, “Thought you said it ain’t safe to go back.”

 

“Things changed,” Kraglin sets the beer bottle down and stands up, “Now let’s get movin’.”

 

Peter crosses his arms, a sign that he isn’t gonna move until he gets a satisfying answer, “This ‘bout my momma?”

 

“No,” Yondu stands up as well.

 

“This ‘bout my dad?”

 

Yondu grits his teeth, “Shut up an’ help us get ready to get movin’.”

 

Peter opens the door to go out and hitch the trailer to Kraglin’s car; he turns back, “I’m takin’ that as yes.”

 

“You better get your ass movin’, boy, ‘fore I decide to leave you here,” Yondu calls after him.

 

“You been sayin’ that since I was nine!” Peter shouts as he slams the door behind him.

 

Kraglin flashes Yondu a half smile, “Pretty soon he ain’t gonna listen to us at all. When you gonna tell him?”

 

“Never, ‘less somethin’ comes up that makes me hafta do it.”

 

It’s not a good idea and he knows it’s gonna bite him in the ass one day, but his general life motto is ‘just ignore it ‘til it’s unavoidable’.


	4. On the Road Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Peter panics in a diner, they all finally make it home, and Peter doesn't think things through.

They’re on the road before it’s morning. Peter is sitting in the back seat, asleep with his head leaning against the window, headphones on like always. The ability to sleep on long car rides is a byproduct of spending more than half of your life on the road. Yondu is sitting in the passenger’s seat, feet up on the dash despite Kraglin’s complaints. It’s times like these when he misses the Firebird, of course, they had to abandon it because it was a really distinctive car.

 

Torching it was almost as miserable as the lecture Kraglin gave him on why running illegal substances in a bright red car with an easily identifiable gold flame emblem on the hood of it is probably the worst idea in the entire world. He didn’t have much of a counter point other than ‘it looked fuckin’ awesome.’

 

They don’t stop until it’s night again. Kraglin pulls off at a small diner, the sign says it’s open but there aren’t too many cars parked outside. He usually likes a crowd, makes them less memorable, but Peter’s been whining about needing food for the past thirty miles. He’s hungry too, but he isn’t gonna say that because it’d only help the kid’s argument.

 

They slip into a booth near the back of the diner. Yondu and Kraglin sit in the corner that gives a clear line of sight to the door. The waitress is nice, not gratingly peppy but nice in a way that feels natural. She smiles politely when Peter tries to flirt with her, and very discreetly stifles a laugh when Yondu kicks him under the table to get him to stop.

 

After Peter finishes his burger and milkshake, he gets up and wanders over to the jukebox. It’s a real one, older than the kid is but he has a fondness for old tech. God knows he’s fixed up his old Walkman a thousand times. Kraglin has offered to get him something a bit newer but they both know that he’d never agree. Peter puts on Twist and Shout, the Isley Brothers version, which he swears up and down is superior to the Beatles one in every way, shape, and form.

 

He starts dancing, eyes closed with a smile on his face and completely unashamed. He pauses to grin and wave at Yondu and Kraglin when he notices them staring. All the things they’ve taught him about laying low and not sticking out are magically forgotten whenever music gets involved. The song stops and they can finally hear the small TV again. The reception in the diner is spotty; the picture flickers in and out and the sound quality is abysmal.

 

“This summer was the nine year anniversary of--”

 

The picture cuts out. The woman behind the counter bangs her fist against the top of TV. Peter looks back at the songs in the jukebox, waiting to pick out the next song. He scans through the list before stopping at one, he’s practically bouncing in place.

 

He turns back towards the table and calls out, “They have it! They have my song!”

 

The TV crackles back to life, a young news anchor speaks, “She is survived by a son, Peter, who is still missing.”

 

A picture flashes up on the small screen, a smiling woman holding a young boy in front of a run down house that still looks like a home. Yondu would know that face anywhere.

 

“We have to go, now,” he leans over, whispering to Kraglin, “Do it slowly, don’t make a scene.”

 

It’s too late, Peter is standing with his fingers hovering over the selection button for Hooked on a Feeling by Blue Swede. A minute ago he was excited to find his song on the jukebox; he was gonna get to hear it on ‘45 for the first time. Now, he can’t move. His hands are shaking and he feels like he can’t breathe. The picture on the screen is the same one in the pocket of his jacket, the folded, faded, stained picture that’s all he has left of his mother. He can feel someone touching him but he can’t react.

 

Arms wrap around his shoulders and Kraglin looks down at him, voice low and even, careful not to use his name, “C’mon, son.”

 

He nods silently, eyes still wide and hands still held up in front of him. Kraglin leads him out of the restaurant while Yondu pays, distracting the people behind the counter. For once, it’s good that they weren’t in a crowd because someone might’ve recognized them.

 

When they get out into the cold of the night, Peter speaks, voice choked with tears, “S-sorry, you taught me all ‘bout not bein’ suspicious  but-- but I saw the picture an’...” He can’t even finish the sentence before he starts crying.

 

Kraglin rubs his hands up and down the kid’s back, “S’fine, Petey, none of us expected that was gonna happen.” He hasn’t called him Petey since the kid was ten but now seems like as good a time as ever. He opens the back door of the car and Peter steps in, lying down on the back seat and curling in on himself.

 

Yondu walks up to the car, still slow and measured on the off chance that someone’s watching, “We gotta go. Can’t stop here for the night.”

 

Kraglin nods and switches spots with Yondu, who takes shotgun so he can rest, then they head out again.

 

Peter sits up and slips his headphones on, fast fowarding his Walkman until he can hear the introduction of Hooked on a Feeling. Then, he leans back and  stares out at the sky overhead as they drive. One day, a long time ago, his momma had shown him where all of the constellations were and explained what they meant, but now he can’t see them anymore. They’re just stars. He watches them until his eyes grow heavy and he slips into sleep.

 

* * *

 

 

They reach the town the next day. It’s not big or notable enough to be on any maps that aren’t local. Most everyone who knew about it called it Nowhere, as in Middle of Bumfuck Nowhere.

 

Yondu pulls the trailer off on a small access road and parks it in a mostly flat clearing a mile outside of town. Anyone new in the camping areas would stir up rumors and most of the people in town would recognize both Kraglin’s car and trailer. Peter is still lying down in the back seat, half hidden in his leather jacket and doing what can only be described as sulking. Yondu pulls the door open, Peter shields his eyes from the daylight.

 

“Git out, go do whatever it is you do when you’re out in the woods. Don’t get shot. S’almost huntin’ season.”

 

Peter grumbles but he climbs out anyway. The dried leaves crumble easily under his feet and he can’t help but feel a little bit better. Normally, he’d have work to do to help set up camp. He walks farther out into the woods, kicking the leaves out of his way, until he finds somewhere nice. The nice place in question is a fallen tree; it doesn’t look like it’s rained in awhile so the wood should be dry. Pulling the picture out of his inner jacket pocket, Peter sits down. His mother smiles up at him from the palm of his hand. He was always careful never to fold her face, he can’t risk distorting it because it’s the only picture he has. Then, he does what he always does when he can’t make a decision.

 

“Should I go see the town?” he asks the empty air.

 

He isn’t eight anymore, he doesn’t think she’s gonna reply like he used to, but he still likes to wait until something happens that feels like an answer. The forest stays as silent as it can, so he folds the picture again and stands up. When he does, the wind catches his hair and he figures that’s as much of an answer as he’s gonna get.

 

Peter wanders back to the camp and calls out, “I’m goin’ into town.”

 

Yondu freezes where he’s standing, “In what world do you think that’s a good idea, boy?”

 

“Come onnnn! You taught me how to be careful, ain’t nobody gonna recognize me.”

 

Kraglin gives Yondu the look Peter’s come to know as the ‘don’t argue with him ‘cos he’ll just do it anyway’ look. One day, he’ll feel bad about all the shit they’ve had to put up with, but today is not that day.

 

“Fine. Don’t do nothin’ stupid,” Yondu remembers that he’s talking to _Peter_ , so he adds, “An’ I already know you’re gonna do _somethin’_ stupid so don’t do somethin’ _extra_ stupid. No shopliftin’, pickpocketin’, or fightin’ ‘cos we don’t need anyone findin’ out you’re here.”

 

Peter flashes a smile and starts walking up to the road into town. It’s a lot smaller than he remembers, only because he’s a lot bigger than he was the last time he saw it. Most of the stores are the same but the small record store his mom loved is gone. She was probably the only reason it was still open when he was a kid. But thinking about that makes him feel sad, so he picks up speed until he’s past it. There are a couple of people he’d like to say hi to, like the baker who used to give him things for free when he’d come there with his mom, but that definitely doesn’t fall under the category of Things You Do When You Want To Lay Low.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanna thank all'a y'all for the nice comments! 
> 
> Also, next chapter is when you're gonna get to meet Gamora and Nebula in this AU so get ready!
> 
> Another thing that might help you visualize this a bit better. [Here](https://winnebagoind.com/binaries/content/gallery/wgohippoproject/products/2015/floorplans/322r-15.jpg) is the layout I've been picturing for Kraglin's trailer. I just went looking for one that I could picture in my head while writing so I don't get confused on who is where. 
> 
> And [here](http://topclassiccarsforsale.com/uploads/photoalbum/1983-pontiac-firebird-fun-red-holiday-gift-2.jpg) is Yondu's car, except with the Ravager flames instead of the Firebird decal. I was thinking of the quote about how Ravagers are the equivalent of car fanatics and I love Firebirds, plus I thought it was hilarious to have Yondu running illegal substances in the most flashy recognizable car in existence.


	5. Somebody's Watching Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm posting early since I have to do things all day tomorrow, enjoy! 
> 
> In which Peter gets recognized, Gamora tries her hand at breaking and entering, and Kraglin and Yondu find an unlikely ally.

Gamora looks away from her sister, Nebula. They’re standing with their backs to a wall, just watching. It’s boring but it’s better than being at home with Thanos. Something is different, she knows that for sure. Thanos has trained them both to keep an eye out for things that are different. Technically, he’s their father, not that she’d ever dignify him with the title. But, he wouldn’t be happy if she missed out on something.

 

She keeps her eyes on the crowd, still looking for what’s different. It’s a Sunday, the busiest day in town since everyone goes to the singular church and everyone needs something to do afterwards. She’s about to get frustrated when she notices what’s different. A boy. About as old as her. Walking with confidence, not the wariness of an outsider. Hair dyed black, badly. Sloppy hair cut. Probably home done, also badly.

 

Nebula isn’t going to be happy that she didn’t notice. Neither will Thanos. Still, noticing makes Gamora feel better. She keeps her eyes on the boy, walking down the street. He’s too far away to see his face but something about him feels important. She decides to stay still and wait to see if he gets closer.

 

“What are you looking at.”

 

It’s not a question so much as a statement, since Nebula’s default tone of voice is extremely exasperated.

 

“Nothing.”

 

The answer seems to satisfy her sister and they both go back to watching. The boy walks past the small alleyway the girls are standing in, hands in his pocket. Gamora slips out after him. She’ll explain to Nebula later, but if she told her sister now it’d just turn into a whole big thing to see who’s better, which would scare the kid off.

 

She sticks behind him, trailing at least ten feet back so he doesn’t feel like he’s being followed. After a few minutes like this, she speeds up and taps him on the shoulder.

 

Putting on her best Welcoming Committee voice, she speaks, “Hi! I haven’t seen you around here! Are you new?”

 

The boy smiles crookedly and rubs the back of his neck, “No, uh, I’m just stoppin’ by.”

 

“How long are you here for?” She smiles and puts a hand on his arm.

 

The boy is blushing now, meaning her plan is working, “Not too long… But, long enough…”

 

The attempt at flirting is endearingly pathetic. He runs a hand through his hair and Gamora can clearly see the reddish roots of his hair. He looks familiar, but she doesn’t know where she’s seen him before.

 

“Do you want me to show you around?” She smiles as sweetly as she can and she can hear Thanos’ voice in the back of her mind always telling her to make people underestimate her.

 

The boy looks at her directly for the first time in the conversation and she still has the nagging feeling that she knows him from somewhere.

 

He smiles again, “No… My… uh… dad. He’s waitin’ for me.”

 

The hesitation is interesting, but Gamora can’t push it right now, instead she says, “I’m Gamora, what’s your name? So I can find you again!”

 

“Peter,” the boy is blushing again.

 

Finally, everything clicks into place. His name is Peter. Last name is likely Quill. They still hold a memorial for his mother each year. The hair dye was a nice touch. And someone brought him here, someone who’s waiting for him. She doesn’t know exactly what the situation is, just that one of Thanos’ friends is looking for him and a man named Yondu Udonta. Probably the man who brought Peter here.

 

She composes herself and smiles, “See you around!”

 

Peter waves as he heads off towards the road out of town. Gamora waits until he’s about fifty feet ahead of her before following him. He isn’t very good at covering his tracks, she easily follows him all the way back to an access road. She isn’t going to risk going down it during the day, but she’ll come back at night if she can ditch Nebula.

 

* * *

 

 

All three of them are actually sleeping at night time for the first time in at least a month. They’d fallen into a habit of drive all night and sleep all day, and now it’s awkward to try to reverse. Yondu is lying awake, staring up at the roof of the trailer like he’s expecting the stains on the ceiling to move. That’s when he hears the door handle jiggle. He freezes, listening to make sure it isn’t just an accident. When it happens again, he elbows Kraglin, sleeping next to him since Peter claimed the only other bed for himself.

 

There’s an unspoken understanding shared between them as they both grab their pistols. Normally, Yondu wouldn’t have one, but being in the same town as Ego is reason enough to justify carrying a gun around. No need to wake Peter up unless things get bad. The door handle clicks and they hear a quiet shout of ‘yes!’ outside. The two men shift slowly until they’re standing in front of the dinette. The door opens and the automatic overhead lights come on. Yondu cocks his gun and the intruder throws her arms up.

 

Yondu blinks, once, twice, and realizes that the intruder’s just a kid. He shoots a look at Kraglin, who flicks the safety on his pistol but still keeps it raised. The girl isn’t much older than Peter, her long black hair is tied back but he can see that the ends are dyed pink. She’s wearing black pants and a black long sleeve shirt. Her skin is darker than Peter’s and she’s got a good couple inches on him. Kid probably told her exactly where they were as soon as she smiled at him. Still, it seems pretty uncharacteristic of Ego to send a kid to do his work.

 

“Who are you?” Yondu keeps his voice quiet.

 

“Who are _you?!”_ She doesn’t bother keeping quiet.

 

“You’re the one what broke into our trailer, so I think you oughta be answerin’ questions ‘stead of askin’ them,” Kraglin adds.

 

Peter rolls over and rubs his eyes, the scene comes into view, “Gamora? What’re’ya doin’ here?!”

 

The girl, Gamora, rolls her eyes, looking way too nonchalant for someone with two guns on her.

 

“You gonna tell us what you’re doin’ here or am I gonna hafta shoot you?” Yondu tries to sound like he isn’t rattled by the fact that a teenager isn’t fazed by two people pointing guns at her.

 

“I’m Gamora, and I can explain!”

 

Kraglin speaks up, “Well you best start ‘splainin’!”

 

“I’m Thanos’ daughter.”

 

Thanos’ daughter… As in, _the_ Thanos, head of the fucking Kree family. They’re just batting a thousand today!

 

Kraglin takes over, noticing how shocked Yondu is, “That ain’t much of an explanation an’ I can still shoot you.”

 

She swallows hard, but still doesn’t look too bothered, “He’s looking for Peter. One of his friends says he needs him.”

 

Yondu leans towards Kraglin and hisses out, “We never shoulda come here. She’s gonna go tell Thanos what she found an’ he’ll take Pete an’ throw us to the rest of his fuckin’ family.”

 

“We could kill her.”

 

Yondu groans, “Don’t want no blood on my hands!”

 

Kraglin shrugs, “It’s an idea! I can always do it for you!”

 

“I don’t want to help Thanos!” Gamora shouts, drawing attention back to her, “I want to get away from him!”

 

Yondu looks her up and down, she doesn’t seem nervous, “How do we know you ain’t lyin’?”

 

“You just have to trust me!” She looks like she’s getting frustrated now, but Yondu still isn’t ready to trust her.

 

“Don’t _hafta_ do anything. Give us one good reason not to kill you,” Kraglin adds in.

 

Gamora clenches her fists at her side and Yondu can see what looks like tears in her eyes, “Because he killed my mom!”

 

Of course those are the magic fucking words because Peter jumps down from his bunk and says, “We hafta at least listen to her! What if she knows about what happened to my momma!”


	6. Under Pressure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a heads up, this chapter is gonna talk about child abuse because Thanos is a horrible person in every universe. In which Gamora channels Nancy Drew, Thanos is a dick, and I'm sad about Nebula.

Gamora is sitting at the dinette now. Yondu agreed to hear her out, even if it was just to make Peter feel better. He keeps the guns lying on the table, safety on, as a warning. 

 

She takes a deep breath and starts, “For as long as I can remember, there was always just Thanos. He’s my dad, like, by blood, but he never told me who my mom was. Just that she ran off when I was just a baby. Said she didn’t want to take care of me, but Thanos would  _ never  _ abandon me like that,” She rolls her eyes.

 

Gamora thinks for a second and starts talking again, “I believed it for a long time. I hated her, I hated that she left me with someone so horrible. Then, he told Nebula the same thing. She’s my sister. It didn’t seem likely the same thing would happen with both of our mothers. Nebula doesn’t care what happened, but I do.

 

“I decided that if Thanos wasn’t gonna tell me the truth, I was gonna find it out. I went looking through his stuff, ‘cos he taught us both how to do it and not let anyone find out. A lot of it was boring money stuff, but one of his file cabinets was locked, but I picked the lock.

 

“Inside were a bunch of folders with names. One of them had my name on it, so I grabbed it. It didn’t make much sense when I looked at it the first time, there was just a crossed out name, a date from fifteen years ago, and a note that said ‘$2000, payed.’ But, I think he had my mom killed. Why else would you pay $2000 and cross out a name after?”

 

Yondu stops picking his teeth with his nail and says, “An’ what makes you think we can help you?”

 

“You’ve outrun him for years!” Gamora’s starting to get desperate, her voice cracks in a way she’d normally be ashamed of.

 

“We was runnin’ from Ego, not Thanos.”

 

She’s wide eyed now, almost shouting but they’re too far from the town for anyone to hear her, “I don’t think you were! Thanos had a ‘Quill’ folder in there too! With a picture of Peter! And one of you!” She points at Yondu, “They need him for something. I don’t know what, but it’s bad!”

 

Yondu considers the situation. This could be helpful, he could work this to his advantage.

 

He sighs, “Scram back to your daddy, kiddo.”

 

Gamora furrows her brows, “But… but…”

 

“Don’t let him know you been out to see us, an’ see if you can get us them dossiers.”

 

He pronounces the word like ‘dossi-air’ and Gamora almost corrects him but he really doesn’t look like the kind of person to care if he doesn’t say things properly. 

 

Instead, she smiles and heads for the door, “I won’t let you down!” 

 

A few minutes after she’s gone, Kraglin says, “Pete, go outside.”

 

He’s still mulling over what Gamora said, “But aren’t we gonna talk about this?”

 

“Now.” Kraglin looks to the door. 

 

Peter sighs and stands up, he knows they’re gonna fight because they always like to send him away before things get heated. He sits down on the cold ground outside of the trailer and wraps his jacket around himself. The fight is already audible from the trailer and he strains to make out the words.

 

“The fuck you think you’re doin’, gettin’ a kid involved like this?”

 

“If she gets us them dossiers, we can go to the feds an’ put an end to all o’ this.”

 

“You?! Goin’ to the feds?! Jesus christ.” 

 

Peter decides he’s heard enough and slips his headphones on, fast forwarding to Moonage Daydream. He leans his head back and looks up to the stars, trying to pick out constellations again. 

 

* * *

 

Gamora mastered the art of climbing up the trellis to her bedroom window years ago. She slips into her bedroom and is just about to shut the window behind her when the lights flick on. 

 

“Where were you?”

 

It’s not Thanos, thank god, but Nebula looks pissed. She also has a black eye, so Thanos knows something.

 

“I needed you, where were you?” 

 

Gamora throws her hands up, “I was doing something important.”

 

Nebula wipes angry tears from her eyes and winces when she touches the bruised flesh, “What’s more important than your  _ sister? _ ” 

 

Nebula’s red hair is buzzed to about a quarter of an inch. The first time it happened was when Thanos held her down and shaved it off. Her hair was as long as Gamora’s then; they were fourteen at the time. She’d been caught during one of their drills; Gamora made it into the house without anyone seeing, but Nebula couldn’t pick the door lock. Thanos had dragged her into the house and made Gamora watch, telling her that’s what happened when you messed up.

 

She’d cried the whole time; Nebula didn’t. Nebula just told her to shut up. When Thanos was done, he’d pushed Gamora down to the ground and said she could learn a thing or two from her sister, like how to take a punishment. After that, Nebula kept her hair short, shaving it meticulously in front of their bathroom mirror each week.

 

Gamora drops her voice to a whisper and pulls Nebula towards her, “I’m trying to get us away, I think I found a way to do it.”

 

Nebula grits her teeth, “Don’t be stupid.”

 

“Really! I found people who can help us!”

 

“Thanos will kill us both if he finds out about your foolish fantasies.”

 

“He won’t, I promise,” Gamora smiles, trying to get her sister to mirror the motion, “And then we’ll be far away.”

 

Nebula sighs, “Don’t tell me your plan. I don’t want to be involved when this fails. Plausible deniability. You need a good story for when I bring you to Thanos. Make sure it’s thorough.” 

 

* * *

 

Thanos is already waiting for her downstairs, sitting in his chair in the living room, facing towards the fireplace. Nebula guides her to his side, holding onto her arm tight enough to look like she’s angry but not tight enough to actually hurt Gamora.

 

“Sorry--”

 

Thanos holds up a hand to signal her to stop, “I should’ve had Nebula lock your window, let you sleep outside.” 

 

Gamora stays silent, bracing herself for whatever’s going to happen.

 

“What was so important that you had to directly disobey me?”

 

Gamora waits for a second to make sure the question isn’t rhetorical, then tries to speak, “I-I wanted to see my… my… my friends.”

 

“You  _ stupid  _ girl,” Thanos growls, standing up to tower over her, “Do you really think you can afford to have  _ friends  _ if you’re going to run this family one day?”

 

Gamora shakes her head no, but Thanos strikes her hard across the face anyway. Her head whips to the side and she can taste blood in her mouth, but she doesn’t cry. She hasn’t cried in a long time. Instead, she pictures Thanos’ office. She just has to pick the lock to the file folder and grab the folders about Meredith Quill and Ego. She just has to take them to Yondu and then she’ll be free. She forgot to ask about Nebula, but she’s sure they’ll let her come too.

 

Thanos looks to Nebula, “For once, you are not the disappointment. Take your sister away.” 


	7. Go Your Own Way

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Peter faces a hard truth, Gamora takes him to Ego's mansion for answers, and they meet Mantis.

The atmosphere in the trailer is tense, and it only gets worse when they open the door to Gamora, with a messenger bag and a split lip.

 

“I got them, I got all of them,” she smiles but Yondu can see how much it hurts the cut on her lip.

 

Kraglin gives him a look that says  _ I told you so.  _ Still, if this works they’ll get her out of here. Gamora spreads the folders out on the dinette and before anyone can stop him, Peter grabs the Quill folder.

 

He sits down and skims through the documents inside of it, “YOU WORKED FOR HIM?”

 

Yondu pinches the bridge of his nose between his fingers, apparently telling the kid is unavoidable now, “Now, Pete, jus’ let me explain.” 

 

“YOU WORKED FOR HIM FOR A YEAR!” Peter stands up, tears streaming down his face, “YOU WORKED FOR HIM AN’ HE KILLED MY MOM!”

 

Yondu doesn’t have an answer for him, all of the things Peter’s saying are true. He  _ did  _ work for Ego, Ego  _ did  _ kill the kid’s mom, lying will just make it worse. The kid’s gotta calm down a bit before he’ll be able to listen to anything Yondu has to say. Peter pushes past Kraglin and walks out into the night, slamming the door behind him.

 

Gamora blinks twice, then her mind catches up with her mouth, “Peter, wait!”

 

She turns to Yondu, who shrugs, “He’ll be back, he always comes back.”

 

“Well  _ I’m  _ going after him!” She puts her hands on her hips.

 

“Suit yourself. We’re stayin’ here to read these files o’ yours.”

 

Gamora opens the door and walks out into the woods. Kraglin and Yondu sit down at the dinette, Yondu picks up the abandoned file. Inside is a copy of his mugshot, with his name typed underneath it. The page it’s paper-clipped to is a spreadsheet of each shipment he’s run and how much they’re worth. Each item is dated and every amount of money has a little check mark next to it. 

 

He shows the document to Kraglin, “Wonder what that means?”

 

Kraglin shrugs. Yondu flips the page. The next document is about Ego. There are a couple of addresses listed, the only one he recognizes is the one to the warehouses an hour outside of town. He scans the rest of the page before throwing the file down.

 

“Girl was right, he was workin’ for the Kree.” 

 

Kraglin makes a noise of acknowledgement but doesn’t look up from the folder he’s reading through.

 

“Still ended up workin’ for those fuckers,” Yondu drags his hands down his face, “Makes sense, though. Ego had me runnin’ goods, he got paid an’ then he anonymously donated chunks o’ the profit to Thanos. The Kree get to stay squeaky clean politicians an’ policemen wi’ way more cash than they oughta have; Ego gets rich an’ none o’ the police’ll touch ‘im.”

 

Kraglin sets his folder down, “Then why does he need Pete?”

 

“Fucker needs an heir. Someone who don’t got ties to the Kree.”

 

* * *

 

Peter can hear Gamora calling for him. Yondu probably sent her after him, but he’s the last person Peter wants to talk to. He slows down a bit because Gamora seems pretty nice and he hasn’t talked to another person his age in a long time. He couldn’t exactly go to school when he was on the run, Yondu and Kraglin tried homeschooling but neither of them had actually finished high school. All in all, Peter was pretty lonely.

 

She catches up to him, breathing hard, “You should’ve listened to them!”

 

“Nothin’ they’ll say is gonna make a difference,” he crosses his arms.

 

“But they care about you!” She clenches her fists at her side, “That’s more than I have!”

 

Peter doesn’t really have a response, he’s probably being a jerk but he still isn’t ready to go listen. Instead, he has an idea.

 

“You know where Ego lives, right?”

 

“Yeah, why?”

 

“I’m thinkin’ maybe we should go talk to him.”

 

Gamora looks at him like he just said he was from another planet, “You want to do  _ what?! _ ”

 

“I want him to explain!” Peter’s trying his best not to shout but it’s getting hard, “I want answers!”

 

He can feel tears forming around his eyes and he wipes them away as fast as he can, “I just wanna know…”

 

Gamora sighs, “Okay, but I’m coming with you.”

 

Peter nods, not looking directly at her, and starts walking again. She’s pretty sure this is a horrible idea but it might be a good time to gather even more information on anything to do with Thanos.

 

“By the way, his house is this way,” she points in the direction away from where they’re heading.

* * *

 

 

Peter’s mouth hangs open as he looks up at the house. It’s the biggest place he’s ever seen, almost twice as big as his mother’s house and god knows how much bigger than the trailer. There are gardens circling around the whole thing and lights cast the entire facade in a golden glow. Gamora isn’t nearly as impressed, Ego’s mansion isn’t quite as big as Thanos’ house. The gardens are useless and frivolous, a sign of a man with no concept of how to manage money.

 

Someone waves at them from the porch, the figure is too small to be Ego, but they follow the path up to the large porch to see who it is. The person jumps off the porch and runs up to meet them. It’s a girl, a bit younger than Peter and Gamora, with big, round glasses that almost make her eyes look like a bug’s. Her black hair is pushed out of her eyes with a green head band and she wears a green dress with leggings underneath it.

 

“I am Mantis!” she smiles awkwardly, showing all of her teeth, “Ego is waiting for you!”

 

Peter shoots Gamora a concerned look, he hasn’t considered that Ego might know he’s here.

 

“He’s waiting?” Peter whispers the words to himself.

 

“Yes! He has been waiting a long time, come on!” Mantis grabs his hand, he almost jerks it away but she starts leading him up onto the porch. Gamora follows after them.

 

If Peter was impressed by the outside, he’s astounded by the inside. The floor looks like it’s tiled with marble and the chandelier in the foyer is probably worth more than Kraglin’s car and trailer combined. The ceiling is covered in a swirling mural and he keeps staring up at it as Mantis leads him along. 

 

“Who are you?” Gamora eyes Mantis warily.

 

“I live here with Ego. He is my father. I am a good daughter but he has always been waiting for Peter to come home,” Mantis snaps back into her smiley persona again, “He will be excited to see you!” 

 

Peter isn’t listening to her, he keeps looking around the house. There’s a lot of art on the walls and everything looks very bright and clean. It’s much nicer than what he expected Ego to live in, since Ego is a killer and all. He always pictured Ego hiding out in a dark house, filled with smoke and weapons.

 

She leads them all into a round room with a dome overhead, the dome is made of clear glass and Peter can see the stars through it. Here, the floor is a mosaic of winding, twining lines in bright colors. If he wasn’t so desperate for answers, Peter would’ve walked the whole thing. 

 

Sitting on a bench against the side of the room is a man with longish grey hair and a scruffy beard; he laughs, “Peter, my boy, I’ve been waiting a long time to see you. You wouldn’t imagine how long, I’ve been waiting.”


	8. Lyin' Eyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Ego is a conniving asshole, Mantis attempts to befriend Gamora, and Peter has some hard decisions to make.

Ego looks over at Mantis, who looks down at the ground, he smiles, “Why don’t you girls leave us alone for a while?”

 

Mantis may be content to just smile and do what she’s told, but the way the man says _girls_ sends shivers down Gamora’s spine. But, it’s a good opportunity to look for more dirt on him, so she nods and follows Mantis out of the room.

 

When they’re gone, Ego beckons Peter over to sit near him. Peter follows almost like his body is on autopilot. When he takes his place on the bench, Ego smiles down at him.

 

“You probably have a lot of questions, but let me explain first.”

 

This is already starting off good, at least he wants to explain what happened right away, no keeping it secret for nine years! Peter nods.

 

“I hired Yondu Udonta to pick you up and bring you to me. But for some reason, I can’t imagine why, he kept you. It’s not like he knew the first thing about taking care of a child, and that skinny friend of his isn’t much better.”

 

Peter interrupts, “He kept me ‘cos you killed my mom.”

 

“How do you know I killed her?” Ego smiles again; it’s starting to get unnerving, like his face can’t do anything other than smile, “Did you see me there?”

 

Peter closes his eyes and tries to think back to the dream. It’s funny, all the years he’s been having it he’s always just wanted to forget it. Now, he’s trying to remember who’s holding the gun.

 

“I saw… Someone…” he looks down at his feet, defeated.

 

“You saw someone?” Ego raises an eyebrow.

 

“I don’t remember what he looked like,” Peter keeps staring at the floor like he might be able to dig a tunnel out of this situation through sheer willpower.

 

Ego puts a hand on his shoulder and his face shifts into an expression of sympathy, “Are you sure it wasn’t Yondu?”

 

Peter tears away from him, “No! It wasn’t!”

 

“But son,” he puts his hand right back on Peter’s shoulder, “You just told me you didn’t remember what the man looked like.”

 

“It can’t be Yondu!” Peter can feel hot tears pooling in his eyes, just waiting for the right moment to fall.

 

“What do you really know about him?”

 

Peter stops to think. He knows that Yondu likes old cars and the color red, he knows that Yondu snores even if he denies it, he knows that Yondu acts mean but doesn’t always mean it, he knows that Yondu’s pretty much raised him, hell, he even knows that Yondu was in prison, even if he wasn’t technically supposed to know it. He also knows that they’ve always been on the run, always having to move, always having to dye his hair and call him a different name.

 

And now he knows that Yondu worked for Ego _before_ he was hired to come pick him up. But, he doesn’t know where Yondu came from, or who his family is, or even why they’re back here again.

 

Ego rubs his hand in small circles on Peter’s shoulder, the boy’s silence already answer enough, “That’s what I thought…”

 

* * *

 

 

“Ain’t the first time he done this,” Yondu slides a paper over, it’s a list of names. More than half are crossed off and each one has an age next to them. Peter’s name is towards the bottom of the list, a few below him is another name, Mandy White, with a question mark next to it.

 

Kraglin hands Yondu another set of papers, “Think I found the hitman.”

 

Yondu scans the spreadsheet, it’s all last names and dollar amounts. Almost every row is stamped ‘paid’. Sure enough, the surname Quill is on it, but no stamp or dollar amount. Yondu isn’t too sure what that means, but it can’t be good. Then Kraglin makes a noise that sounds almost like a stifled laugh; Yondu shoots him a glare because this is _not_ the time.

 

“Fucker’s name is,” he brings his hands up to his face, covering his smile, “ _Taserface!_ ”

 

Okay, that’s pretty funny, Yondu has to admit.

 

He smiles for the first time since they got here, “That’s a fuckin’ horrible hitman name.”

 

* * *

 

 

Gamora crosses her arms and leans against the wall in front of the stairs, “What kind of a name is Mantis anyway?”

 

She doesn’t really have room to talk, since her name is Gamora. She doesn’t even know what it’s supposed to mean but Thanos likes showy stupid names that no one will make fun of because they’re all scared of him. But she’s pissed off about being shooed out of there like she’s five years old and Mantis is the only person in the room.

 

Mantis looks up at her with a wide eyed expression and Gamora can’t tell if she looks scared or if it’s just her big glasses, “My name is not _really_ Mantis. It’s a nickname! Ego gave it to me! He says I look like a bug.”

 

Mantis shifts around awkwardly before her whole face lights up, “Would you like to see my bedroom? I have never shown anyone my bedroom before!”

 

Gamora is starting to feel a little bad for her, even Thanos let them have friends over sometimes. Just to keep up appearances. She nods then lets Mantis grab her hand and pull her upstairs.

 

Her room is big, bigger than Gamora’s. It’s also green. Mantis sure has a thing about the color green. The sheets on her bed are green, the rug in the center of the room is green, even the curtains are green. The bars on the windows make Gamora nervous, though.

 

Mantis squeezes harder on her hand, “You are scared.”

 

“No I’m not,” Gamora yanks her hand away.

 

“Yes! You are! I can feel it!” Mantis gives her that weird expression again, “You don’t need to be scared. Ego is very kind.”

 

“I’m not scared!” Gamora crosses her arms again.

 

Mantis looks at the floor and bites her lip, thinking, then she jumps in place, smiling again, “Would you like to see Peter’s room?”

 

“Peter’s room?” Gamora raises her eyebrows.

 

“Yes! He is going to come live with us! He is going to be my brother!”

 

“He’s not staying here!” Gamora shouts, before she realizes that this might compromise their plan. Mantis doesn’t look like she’s figured out what’s going on, though.

 

“Yes, he is! Ego will convince him to stay.”

 

An intercom crackles to life overhead, “Mantis, would you bring Peter’s friend back downstairs?”

 

Mantis grabs Gamora’s hand again, “We must go.”

 

* * *

 

 

She only catches the last bit of the conversation, but it doesn’t do anything to make her feel more comfortable.

 

Ego has his hands on Peter’s shoulders and is steering him out of the round room, “Why don’t you go take a walk and consider what we talked about.”

 

“Uh-huh,” Peter says, eyes glazed over like he’s been crying. Ego lets go of him and he stands aimlessly in the hallway before Gamora walks over and takes his arm. She leads them out of the front door and onto the porch; Mantis doesn’t follow, instead Ego ushers her over to him. It’s weird, but Gamora can deal with that later.

 

Outside, in the cold air of the night, Peter blinks like he’s waking up from a trance, then mumbles, “He asked me to stay wi’ him.”

 

“That’s a horrible idea!” Gamora throws her hands up in the air.

 

“Maybe not… He _is_ my dad…”

 

Gamora lets out an exasperated sigh, “Just because he’s related to you doesn’t mean he’s your family!”

 

“I dunno,” Peter starts to walk, “But I oughta consider it at least.”

 

They stay silent for a while, just following the maze of bright plants, trimmed to perfection.

 

Peter stops in front of a fountain, “He jus’ seems pretty nice, that’s all. He don't lie to me either.”

 

“I don’t know him, but I do know Thanos, and he’s good at pretending to be nice so he can get people to do what he wants! Of course he's lying!” Gamora grabs Peter and shakes him by the shoulders, “He’s just doing this because he needs you for something!”

 

“I jus’ think it’d be nice to have a dad,” Peter shrugs.

 

Gamora lets go of him and presses her hands against her head, “You already have a dad! Hell, you have _two_ dads!” she grits her teeth and swallows before she can add _and I only have Thanos,_ then she looks directly at Peter, “You don’t need somebody like Ego!”

 

He sighs, “I guess… Let’s walk a bit more an’ then we can go tell him we wanna leave.”

 

“We should just go now!” Gamora calls out, but Peter’s already walking away. She groans, throws her hands up in the air, and continues after him.


	9. Wild World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Gamora and Peter stumble across something horrible, Peter impulsively confronts Ego, and things turn out about as good as you'd expect.

Gamora decided to give Peter some space a couple of minutes ago, she’s been following him while he wanders. Now, she’s starting to get concerned, he’s kneeling at the edge of the woods.

 

“Gamora, come look at this,” Peter calls out, not turning towards her, “I think it’s a rock or somethin’.”

 

Gamora doesn’t really want to see what kind of rock Peter’s found, but if it’ll get them out of here faster, she’s happy to look at anything. The whole property is starting to give her the creeps. She gets over to him just as he holds up whatever he dug up.

 

“Ew, it’s a bone!” Peter drops it like it burnt him.

 

Gamora rolls her eyes, but when she looks out into the woods, she sees another glint of yellowed white farther out into the trees, “I think there’s another one out there.”

 

She walks over to it, and digs the dirt away. The dry soil gets under her fingernails and she really regrets not bringing some gloves along. It takes a minute but finally, she can see what it is.

 

“Oh shit.”

 

“What is it?” Peter calls out to her.

 

She doesn’t answer, so he runs over. 

 

“Hey, Gam--” He freezes up, mouth gaping.

 

Gamora doesn’t know what to say either. Peter’s dimly aware that he’s crying again, the water hits the dirt and makes little spots of mud.

 

“That-that’s… That’s a skull!” his voice cracks. Gamora nods, it is a skull. A small skull, but definitely a skull.

 

“We need to go.”

 

Peter doesn’t move, he stays still as a statue, not even acknowledging that she said something.

 

Gamora grabs his arm, “Peter, we need to go  _ now!” _

 

“Why is a skull buried here?” Peter’s hands are shaking, hovering up close to his chest, “Why does he have a skull, Gamora?”

 

“I don’t know, but I do know that it isn’t a good sign!” She pulls harder, but his body is stubborn. 

 

“You are not supposed to be here!” 

 

Gamora turns around to see Mantis standing at the threshold between the garden and the woods.

 

“Ego does not allow visitors into the woods!”

 

Gamora nudges Peter again; he moves like someone finally hit play on him, right up until he reaches Mantis. Gamora groans, they need to leave.

 

“Why is there a skull here?!”

 

Mantis doesn’t look at him, “Ego likes to hunt. He leaves the bones out here when he is done.”

 

Peter throws his hands up, “I know that ain’t a deer skull! Kraglin’s took me huntin’ before so I know what one looks like! It’s a human skull!”

 

“No, it is not!” Mantis looks like she’s about to start crying. 

 

Gamora decides to take matters into her own hands; she grabs Mantis by the front of her shirt, “Who’s bones are those?”

 

Mantis’ voice shakes, “N-n-n-no one’s...”

 

“Don’t lie to me! Those look like a kid’s bones!” 

 

“They belong to Ego’s son!” Mantis bursts into tears, “He killed him and now he is going to kill me! I was not supposed to tell you!”

 

“You need to explain everything, right now,” Gamora hisses, then looks over to Peter. He’s still shaking but she can’t worry about that right now.

 

Mantis gulps, “I saw Ego kill him. He was not being useful. Ego pushed him down the stairs. He told me it was an accident, but I could not tell anyone! I stayed quiet! I helped Ego bury him! I was useful!”

 

“He killed her…” Peter mumbles at his feet.

 

Gamora looks over, “What? I didn’t hear you.”

 

“He killed her! He killed my mom! If he could kill a kid, he could’a killed her too, real easy!” 

 

“Peter,” Gamora starts, but he’s already running before she can finish the sentence, “WAIT!”

 

Gamora groans and lets go of Mantis’ shirt. The younger girl looks relieved and wipes some of her tears away with the sleeves of her cardigan.

 

“Come on,” Gamora says.

 

Mantis just blinks, “What?”

 

“We have to go help him before he gets himself killed!”

 

* * *

 

“You killed her!” 

 

Peter’s standing in the doorway; Ego looks unbothered by the accusation, like Peter just told him they were out of cereal.

 

“You sat there an’ you lied to me the whole goddamn time! You kept makin’ me think it was Yondu but it was really you!”

 

“Now son, you don’t want to do something you’ll regret,” Ego smiles at him again.

 

Peter stomps his foot, his boot clicks against the tile floor, “Stop smilin’ at me! You’re always smilin’ ‘cos you don’t want people to know what you’re really thinkin’!”

 

“C’mon, settle down. We can talk this out,” Ego reaches out for him.

 

Peter smacks his hand away, “No we can’t! All you’ve been doin’ is talkin’ and makin’ me confused! But I saw those bones and now I know what you are! You’re a killer!”

 

Ego’s smile melts away as he grabs onto Peter’s arm, holding him so tight that Peter’s hand starts to feel numb and tingly.

 

“Don’t you go sayin’ things you think are true,” he bares his teeth as he speaks and Peter can feel Ego spitting on his face as he enunciates the words, “I loved all of those kids and I didn’t mean to kill them! They just kept messin’ everything up! None of them could do what I needed ‘em to!”

 

“Whatta ‘bout my momma?! You love her when you shot her?” Peter’s crying hard enough that Ego’s just a blur instead of a face.

 

Ego shoves him to the ground, “Don’t you say  _ anythin’  _ about her! I loved Meredith more than you’d ever know!” 

 

“Then why’d’ya kill her?”

 

“She wasn’t part of the plan! I couldn’t get distracted!”

 

Peter tries to get back to his feet, “YOU DON’T KILL PEOPLE YOU LOVE!”

 

“BE  _ QUIET! _ ” Ego kicks him in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him, “DON’T ACT LIKE YOU KNOW WHAT I FELT ABOUT HER.” 

 

He’s preparing to kick the boy again when he hears a shout, “STOP!”

 

Ego freezes and there’s no sound except for Peter wheezing on the floor. 

 

Mantis peeks out from behind Gamora, “I am sorry, I could not stop them!”

 

Ego turns towards her, “You’re lucky you aren’t out in the woods like those other kids.” 

 

Mantis ducks behind Gamora, who continues, “Let us go! People’ll be looking for us!”

 

“Who?” Ego laughs, “A wanted fugitive? Yondu wouldn’t stick his neck out ‘less there’s a profit involved. Thanos? He’s got other children, you aren’t special.”

 

Gamora opens and shuts her mouth, trying to find words.

 

Peter rolls over and looks at her, “Gamora, run! Go an’ get ‘em, I’ll be fine!”

 

“No, no I can’t.” 

 

“Isn’t that nice! Your girlfriend’s gonna stick around to watch,” Ego beams, “Well, she ain’t gonna have a choice.” 

 

In a split second, he’s holding a gun. Peter can see him pull the hammer back, squeeze the trigger, and then he closes his eyes as tight as he can. He can hear the gunshot just like in his dream and hopes that he’s just gonna wake up back in the top bunk. He’d even put up with hitting his head on the ceiling again, every day for the rest of his goddamn life, if it meant that all of this was a dream.

 

When he opens his eyes, he can see Gamora falling. She’s holding onto her leg and she screams out, loud enough that his blood runs cold.

 

“Gamora!” he tries to stand up, to run to her, to do something, but Ego kicks him in the stomach again.


	10. Bad Moon Rising

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Ego's true intentions are revealed, Gamora finds that Thanos' lessons pay off, and Yondu and Kraglin go off to save the day.

“Mantis, get the girl out of here. She’s bleeding on the marble and you know how hard that is to clean up,” Ego takes his eyes off of Peter.

 

“Yes, Ego,” she nods and helps Gamora to her feet. The taller girl winces and leans against Mantis, who just barely holds her up. Peter stands up, legs shaking and threatening to give out.

 

“DON’T YOU DARE HURT HER!” He shouts, kicking Ego’s shin as hard as he can. Ego grabs him by the shoulders and shoves him hard. He stumbles backwards, trying to catch himself, but he can’t. Instead, he cracks his head against the hard tile. His vision swims in front of him and he can hear Gamora yelling.

 

“PETER!” she screams, voice hoarse, but he’s already unconscious.

 

* * *

 

 

_ He’s in the house again. He still knows the layout like the back of his hand, even though he hasn’t been back in years. He’s sitting on the stairs, holding onto his knees; it’s after his bedtime but his momma seemed worried, so he snuck out. The door rings and he can see her dart to the door. When she opens it, the weird nervous expression that’s been on her face all day disappears. She smiles and greets the man on the other side of the door, but it looks like a fake smile.  _

 

_ “Merry, we need to talk,” the man in the doorway says. _

 

_ “There’s nothin’ to talk about,” she sounds sad, “I want you to leave me an’ my boy alone.” _

 

_ “He’s my boy too.” _

 

_ “No he ain’t! You’ve done nothin’ for him! You’re a complete stranger!” _

 

_ Peter buries his head in his hands, he doesn’t like it when his momma has to yell. If he was bigger, maybe he could make the man go away so she wouldn’t have to yell. _

 

_ The man catches his eyes and smiles at him, he waves just a little bit, “Hi, Peter.” _

 

_ She slaps him across the face, “Don’t you dare speak to him!” _

 

_ “Now I think you’re gonna come to regret doing that,” the man smiles again and steps into the house. She steps back each time he steps forward, kind of like a strange dance. _

 

Peter wakes up in a room much smaller than the one he remembers being in. Ego is sitting in a chair off in the corner like he was waiting for him to wake up.

 

“You did kill her!” Peter’s voice sounds nasally and wrong, he reaches up and touches a trail of dried blood from his nose, “You were there that night!”

 

“I was hoping you wouldn’t remember that.”

 

“Why do you need me! Just let me go! I won’t tell anybody, we can’t go to the cops anyway!” Peter’s voice cracks and he’s pretty sure he’ll start crying again but he doesn’t really care.

 

“Meredith was always my favorite, I was ready to marry her and everything,” Ego smiles, eyes shut, and leans back in his chair like he’s remembering her, “But then she…” he shakes his head, “You’re all I got left of her. Now call me sentimental, but I need an heir and the bug just isn’t the kinda person to strike fear into the hearts of the people working under her.”

 

“But why now?” Peter swallows hard, “Why couldn’t you just let us go?”

 

“I don’t like to lose,” Ego laughs, “Besides, you’re almost eighteen.”

 

Peter furrows his brows, trying to work out what how old he is might have to do with anything.

 

“You see, son, when you turn eighteen you get your money and I’m gonna need it.”

 

* * *

 

For once in her life, Gamora is thankful for the lessons Thanos spent years drilling into her head. When the pain dulls enough that she can stop panicking, she runs through everything he’s ever taught her. She can hear his voice in the back of her mind, saying that she’ll never know when something might save her life.

 

She’s bleeding pretty bad. That’s a place to start. Her hands shake as she undoes her belt. She slips it out of the belt loops of her pants, does it up loosely around her leg, then pulls it as tight as she can, just above the gaping hole in her thigh. It doesn’t completely stop the blood, but it slows it down. She focuses on taking deep breaths, in and out, until her vision stops blurring. 

 

Mantis left a few minutes ago, probably to go try to clean up the blood. If they manage to make it out of here without dying, she’s going to take Mantis with her. It isn’t fair to leave her here. Gamora fumbles with the pocket of her pants, she can feel the outline of her phone inside of it. Ego is dangerous, but he’s also angry and impulsive. Thanos would never let someone keep their phone. 

 

It’s a slow process trying to get the phone out without moving her leg around too much. Finally, she’s holding it in her hands. Her fingers shake as she keys in the number. All she can do is hope that the number works, it was in one of the folders and she hopes it’s a recent number.

 

* * *

 

Kraglin looks up at the skylight, “It’s gettin’ dark out.”

 

“So?” Yondu doesn’t look up from the latest set of files he’s working through.

 

“Pete’s sure been gone a long time.”

 

“Boy’ll be back. He always comes back,” Yondu flips the page he’s reading, “Think I figured out what he’s doin’ with the kids.”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“See, each of them other ladies died in some kinda accident, they don’t look too suspicious ‘less you see ‘em all together. When people stop talkin’ ‘bout them, Ego adopts the kids, all legal like, an’ then he gets their inheritance money. But it’s too much money for the mommas to earn on their own, so he’s probably hidin’ his money wi’ them.”

 

Kraglin’s about to reply to him when the phone goes off. There’s a moment of silence as they debate whether or not to pick it up. Yondu decides, fuck it, Ego already knows they’re here, since he’s the one who called them back. Yondu picks up the call.

 

“Peter went to Ego’s mansion, and I followed him.”

 

“Why the fuck did y’all think that was a good idea?” Yondu growls out.

 

“I don’t know!” Gamora sounds frantic, “I didn’t want him going there alone!”

 

Yondu sighs, “What happened? Pete alright?”

 

“Ego shot me!” her voice is high pitched and frantic, “I have a tourniquet, it’s okay! But he dragged Peter away!”

 

“She got  _ shot?! _ ” Kraglin interrupts.

 

“I’m fine! It’s just my leg, but you should hurry!”

 

Then, Gamora hangs up. Kraglin stands up silently and walks over to the bed.

 

“What’re you doin’, we gotta go help ‘em!” Yondu trails after him. 

 

Kraglin holds up a hand, making Yondu pause, then says, “Can’t just do this unprepared.” 

 

He grabs the end of the futon mattress and pulls it off the bed frame. He sets it down, leaning against the wall of the trailer, then slides the solid top panel of the bed frame until it pops out of place. He leans it against the futon mattress. Underneath the panel is what can only be described as a shitload of guns. 

 

“Holy shit,” Yondu whispers, “You had this all along?”

 

“We was already on the run. Didn’t seem relevant,” Kraglin shrugs as he pulls an AR-15 out of the space and slings it over his shoulder. 

 

Yondu scans the pile of guns to try to find one that would make him the least nervous to use when he catches sight of the crossbow. Now  _ that  _ is something he could get into. He had a shitty cheap one from the local hunting store back at one of the foster homes. When he picks it up, it still feels like second nature.

 

“Let’s go.”


	11. The Night Chicago Died

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Yondu and Kraglin save the day, Kraglin considers doing some theiving, Ego gets shot with a crossbow, and Yondu goes to have a conversation with the feds. One chapter left, y'all!

Ego’s mansion towers over them, the two large windows on the facade look like eyes glaring down at them. The longer they wait around, the longer Gamora has to bleed out, so Yondu steps forward, followed by Kraglin. The front door is closed but not locked and as soon as they step in, they can see a girl, younger than Peter. She’s kneeling down in front of a pool of blood, scrubbing furiously with a sponge and crying.

 

“Hey,” Yondu whispers, crouching down next to her. She jumps, surprised, and curls in on herself.

 

“You seen a girl around here? She’s got black hair an’ part o’ it’s pink.”

 

Mantis nods, Yondu continues, “Where is she?”

 

“I am not supposed to say where she is. Ego will be mad.”

 

“Don’t worry ‘bout him. We can take care o’ him,” Kraglin holds up his gun so she can clearly see it, “See?”

 

“Oh!” she looks a little bit less scared, “She is in the kitchen. She is very scared.”

 

Yondu shoots Kraglin a look; Kraglin nods and heads for the kitchen.

 

“Now, can you show me where Peter is?”

 

Mantis gasps, “You are the man who took him! Ego will not be happy!”

 

Yondu sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose between his fingers, “I don’t care what Ego feels, I’m jus’ gettin’ Peter outta here an’ I have half a mind to bring you along too.”

 

Mantis nods, “You care about Peter. Very much. I will take you to him.”

 

Mantis stands up, then Yondu follows suit. She takes his hand and leads him upstairs.

 

“Peter is in his bedroom. I could show you mine if you would like! I have only ever shown it to Gamora!”

 

“Maybe later, kid.”

 

Mantis stops in front of the door and ducks back behind Yondu, “He is in there. I do not know where Ego is.” 

 

* * *

 

It takes Kraglin five minutes to find the kitchen. The house is as big and confusing as a maze and he has half a mind to torch it. Anyone who builds a house this big and extravagant for two goddamn people has more money than they oughta. It’d be nice to watch it burn, but he doesn’t want to add  _ another  _ count of arson to his rap sheet. Especially since he’s probably also wanted for kidnapping. Plus, he has Gamora to worry about. That doesn’t stop him from absentmindedly grabbing a couple of knick-knacks here and there. He pockets one, a frog looking thing made of silver and a big blue jewel, and decides he’ll give it to Yondu after he stops being pissed at him for inadvertently getting a kid shot.

 

Kraglin passes through a second dining room and finds himself in the kitchen. The tile flooring would’ve been white if it wasn’t for the pink smears of blood on the floor. Gamora is nowhere in sight, but the blood leads into a pantry. Inside the pantry is more food than two people would be able to eat in a year and he briefly considers coming back to do some quote unquote grocery shopping after he’s sure Gamora’s alright. There’s bound to be lots of fancy shit in this pantry. The house is loaded with fancy shit. He makes a mental note to come back after the kids are patched up and grab whatever he can. Maybe the guy who used to fence antiques for him is still hanging around.

 

Right, he needs to focus. He still has to find Gamora. Kraglin turns into the second smaller room of the pantry, and looks down. Gamora’s curled in on herself, making her form as small as possible. She looks up at him through her hair, eyes like a cornered animal’s. The wild glint in her glare says she slunk off here to die.

 

“Hey kiddo,” he keeps his voice quiet and steady, no use scaring her, “Sorry we got you shot.”

 

She looks relieved to see him, “I don’t think I did my tourniquet right…”

 

“That’s alright,” he crouches down next to her, “You shouldn’t hafta know how to do one. Not yet.”

 

Gamora buries her head in her hands and mumbles, “I wasn’t prepared. Thanos is gonna be mad.”

 

Kraglin rolls his eyes, “In a coupl’a days, Thanos is gonna be in jail.”

 

She looks up at him, wide eyed, “Really? It worked?”

 

“It’s gonna work,” Kraglin puts a hand on her arm, “Can I pick you up? Don’t want you walkin’ wi’ a bullet hole in your leg.”

 

She nods, he loops one arm under her legs and uses the other to support her head, then stands up. She feels like dead weight in his arms and Kraglin tries to ignore just how worried that makes him. Gamora wraps her arms around his neck and lets her head slump.

 

* * *

 

Yondu opens the door slowly, Peter groans as the light of the hallway spills over him. He doesn’t look good, there’s a big gash on his head and blood all over his face. 

 

He blinks and rubs his eyes, “Yondu?”

 

“Uh-huh.”

 

It takes every ounce of willpower in Yondu’s body to stop him from running over to the kid, but that would make a lot of noise and hopefully Ego doesn’t know they’re here yet.

 

“I’m so so so sorry,” Peter says, “I was mad an’ I jus’ wanted answers.”

 

“S’not your fault,” Yondu crouches next to him and touches the cut on the boy’s head. Peter winces but it doesn’t look too bad.

 

“Yes it is!” Peter can feel his eyes welling up with tears again, “I ran off an’ I ruined everythin’! Gamora’s probably dead an’ it’s all my fault.”

 

Yondu puts his hand’s on Peter’s shoulders, “Hey, look at me…” Peter looks up, eyes wide, and Yondu continues, “Ain’t your fault. It’s my fault, shoulda told you everythin’. An’ Gamora ain’t dead, Kraglin’s got her.” 

 

“Well isn’t this touching.”

 

Yondu turns to see Ego standing in the doorway, Mantis peers out from behind him.

 

She looks down at the ground and whispers, “I am sorry...”

 

“Now Pete, I really wanted to share all of this with you, but you just keep FUCKING THINGS UP!” Ego puts his hands on his hips, “And it’s time to put an end to all of this.”

 

“Yondu, be careful! He has a gun!” Peter stands up, bracing himself against the wall.

 

“Now you’ve been lyin’ to my boy,” Ego smiles, “An’ I don’t appreciate that. Yondu’s just as bad as me, no matter what he’s been tellin’ you. We’re the same, deep down.” 

 

Yondu slides the crossbow off of his back and tucks a bolt into the stock then pulls it back. 

 

“You ain’t the same,” Peter shouts, “He’s never killed anyone!”

 

Ego laughs, a sound that sends shivers down Peter’s spine, “Well it sure looks like he’s gettin’ ready to change that.”

 

Yondu lines up the shot, years worth of muscle memory on his side. Peter is about to tell him to stop when he squeezes the trigger, sending the bolt directly into Ego’s stomach. Ego staggers backwards, Mantis jumps out of the way. He slumps back against the wall and drops to the floor, leaving a trail of smeared blood on the way down.

 

“You… You weren’t gonna kill him?” Peter sounds genuinely surprised.

 

“Naw,” Yondu lets the kid lean against him, “I done a lotta bad things but I ain’t addin’ murder to the list.” 

 

He gestures to Mantis, “Come on, we’re gettin’ outta here.”

 

* * *

 

Kraglin is already back at the car when Yondu makes it outside. Mantis is still holding onto his hand in an almost endearing way. She’s quiet and has a solemn expression on her face. Yondu helps Peter into the back seat, next to Gamora, and Mantis jumps in afterwards.

 

“You okay?” Peter asks.

 

Gamora answers through gritted teeth, “I’m fine.”

 

“Where to?” Kraglin asks, sliding behind the driver’s seat.

 

“Hospital.” 

 

“Seriously?” Kraglin drops his voice as quiet as it’ll go.

 

“Not gonna let her,” Yondu gestures to Gamora, “Bleed out. Fuck it if we get arrested, kids need some medical attention.”

 

“I can always--”

 

Yondu cuts him off, “An’ I do mean  _ real  _ medical attention.”

 

Kraglin nods silently and starts the car. 

 

* * *

 

Gamora gets taken away as soon as they get to the emergency room. She smiles and tells Peter everything’s gonna be fine and the nurses don’t even ask about how she got shot. Peter waits a bit longer, his head wound stopped bleeding before they got to the hospital and he’s really only concussed. 

 

Every person that stops to ask questions sends Yondu’s heart racing. He’s certain someone’s recognized him, that he’s only minutes away from being tackled and handcuffed. When they finally call for Peter, fake last name like all the other times he’s gotten sick and they had to suck it up and get help, Yondu hovers back with Kraglin.

 

“Go with Pete, I got somethin’ I needta do.”

 

Kraglin gives him a dark look that says he already knows what Yondu’s gonna do.

 

“Don’t… Not yet,” he takes Yondu’s hands, “Jus’ wait till Pete’s out.”

 

“The longer I wait, the longer someone has to recognize us an’ call the cops.”

 

He nods solemnly, squeezes Yondu’s hands for just a second, then passes him the keys to the car. Kraglin trails after Peter without looking back.

 

Yondu leans over to where Mantis is sitting, “Go wi’ him, you should talk to Pete when he wakes up.”

 

She nods and silently follows Kraglin. Then, Yondu gets up and slips out of the waiting room. When he sticks his hands in his pockets, he feels something unnatural and smooth. Yondu pulls it out and looks down at it; it’s a shiny little trinket, the kinda thing he collects but definitely way more pricey than all the other ones. He smiles before tucking it back into the jacket pocket.  _ Guess the fight’s over. _

 

The parking lot is dark compared to the sharp, sterile light of the hospital wing. He slips behind the wheel of Kraglin’s car and sighs. There’s a good chance the plan will backfire; he won’t be able to cut a deal or the Kree will be able to cover everything up, and he’ll just end up locked up again. Still, it’s worth a try. He made a promise to Gamora and the girl went and got herself shot for him.

 

* * *

 

Yondu gathers up all of the folders at the trailer before he heads out to the FBI building. It’s an hour and a half away, hopefully that’s far enough that it’s out of the far reaching hand of the Kree family. It’s not a place Yondu ever thought he’d willingly go. The night is cool and he rolls the windows down, letting the wind rush over his face. It’s quite possibly his last night as a free man and all in all, it’s not that bad of one.

 

He walks into the FBI building an hour and a half later with the folders tucked under his arms. 

 

He goes up to the front desk; the secretary looks exhausted, “You have an appointment?”

 

“My name is Yondu Udonta and I’m here to turn myself in.” 

 

The boy behind the counter goes pale. He’s just a kid, little bit older than Pete. His hand hovers over top of the intercom button.

 

“Go on, I ain’t gonna run. Call ‘em. Tell ‘em I wanna talk.”

 

The boy nods silently, then presses the button, “Can I get some backup in the front office?”


	12. Renegade

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Ego and Thanos get arrested, Nebula reunites with her sister, and Peter finally meets Stakar. It's my birthday and y'all are getting the gift of the final chapter of the fic early!
> 
> Also, [here](http://stardorkquill.tumblr.com/post/162735668070) is a playlist of all the chapter title songs + the relevant lyrics from them since I love making playlists. Maybe this will improve your reading experience? Who knows!

Yondu has been sitting in an interrogation room for the past three hours, but no one’s come to talk to him. On the bright side, he hasn’t been arrested yet, but he’s starting to get the feeling he won’t have anybody to try to make a deal with.

 

The door opens slowly, but he doesn’t bother with taking his feet off the interrogation table.

 

“You’ve evaded a lot of people for a long time, Mr. Udonta,” the woman is dressed in a suit, styled impeccably with her golden-blond hair pulled back into a tight ponytail, “My name is Ayesha.”

 

“Well, Missus  _ Ayesha, _ ” Yondu picks at his teeth with his fingernail, “I reckon I got some information you might be interested in.”

 

She looks confused, a look which morphs into anger, “This is not how interrogations are supposed to go!”

 

“Well, I wanna make a deal. I got dirt on pretty much every cop in a little town jus’ a few miles up the road that way an’ I’ll give it to ya if you jus’ let me clear up a tiny little misunderstandin’.” 

 

She turns to the two way mirror, “Can we do that?”

 

Someone on the other side knocks on the window once; Ayesha smiles, well, grimaces, with her lips pursed, “I guess I can look at these.”

 

She sits down across from Yondu, who slides over the folders. She skims over them for a few minutes before muttering, “Good lord! You weren’t lying!”

 

Yondu laughs, “Now let me tell you a story ‘bout a nasty sonnuvabitch named Ego.”

 

* * *

 

Ego is still alive when they find him. He’s coated in blood and half delirious, but alive. Instead of getting dragged out in handcuffs, he’s wheeled out in a gurney, but he still knows that it’s over. Everything he’s worked for is gone. The officers aren’t local, if they were, he wouldn’t even be getting arrested. 

 

About three miles away, Thanos is dragged away in front of Nebula. The officers were forced to taze him after he resisted the first three tries to handcuff him. She blinks in hollow shock, Gamora’s plan worked. 

 

“Do you have any family you could stay with?” One of the officers asks her. She’s a kind looking woman who drapes her arm around Nebula’s shoulder.

 

“I have a sister. I don’t know where she is,” Nebula looks at down at the ground, hoping Gamora didn’t end up dead. 

 

“What’s her name? We can check hospitals,” the woman gives her a sympathetic look.

 

“Gamora.” 

 

* * *

 

The nurses at the hospital point her in the direction of the waiting room for surgery. The only other people in the room are a small sleeping girl, curled up on the couch, and a tall, skinny man in a shirt that’s definitely blood-stained sitting next to her. The nurses said she came in with those two.

 

“Where is she?”

 

The man gives her a blank expression.

 

She clenches her fists at her side, “Where is Gamora?!”

 

“Who wants to know?” he says.

 

“I’m her  _ sister!”  _

 

“You two don’t look alike,” he yawns and looks over at the girl, making sure she’s still asleep.

 

“We’re half sisters, you idiot!” Nebula growls, “We have the same father!”

 

“Fair enough… She’s in surgery. S’all fine, she jus’ got shot.” 

 

Nebula throws her hands up in the air, “She got  _ shot?! _ ”

 

“Weren’t my fault,” Kraglin shrugs. 

 

Nebula groans and sits at the chair adjacent to the couch. Then, she has an idea. She didn’t consider it at first because the guy’s such a weedy, weak looking person, but it has to be true.

 

“Are you the guy she said could help us stop Thanos?”

 

“One of ‘em. Did it work?” 

 

Nebula nods, “He is in jail, along with half the town.” 

 

Kraglin laughs, “What’re’ya gonna do now?”

 

She furrows her brows, what  _ is  _ she going to do? The only family she has is Gamora and she’s pretty sure the police were talking about repossessing the house since it was built with blood money. She’s about to answer when a nurse walks into the room.

 

“Peter’s all stitched up. You can come back if you want to.”  Kraglin nods, then stands up and follows her out of the room. Nebula stays behind in the waiting room, watching the girl sleep.

 

* * *

 

“Look,” Peter points at the cut, he has ten small stitches in the gash on his forehead; it looks a lot better when it isn’t caked with blood, but it’s definitely gonna leave a scar, “I’m gonna look just like you.” 

 

Kraglin laughs, the scar on  _ his  _ face is from a knife fight but the kid doesn’t need to know that, at least not yet, “It’s gonna look pretty badass.”

 

Then, Peter looks at the door, “Where’s Yondu?”

 

Kraglin doesn’t know what to say, so he stays silent.

 

“Did he get arrested?”

 

“Dunno.”

 

Peter chews his lip, “But he didn’t even come an’ say goodbye!”

 

Someone knocks on the doorway, Kraglin turns to see a cop step into the threshold of the room. His whole body tenses, ready to pounce, even if getting into a fight with a cop is a horrible idea for someone with his record. He only relaxes a little bit when he sees Yondu step into the room behind the cop.

 

“Stuck up FBI agent lady managed to get my slate wiped clean on account o’ all the cops in town bein’ dirty,” Yondu laughs, “Turns out they get awful friendly if you help take down a mob family!”

 

When the officer leaves the room, Yondu steps closer to Kraglin, “Made sure to get rid’a all the guns. Wiped ‘em down. Dumped ‘em at Ego’s place.”

 

Kraglin gives him a look that says he isn’t too happy about losing his cache of weapons, but he is happy about not getting arrested again. He softens his expression a bit and Yondu takes it as an invitation to lean forward until his head is resting against Kraglin’s shoulder. 

 

“We done it, s’all over now,” Kraglin says, running his hand up and down Yondu’s back.

 

“Stop bein’ so mushy!” Peter laughs from where he’s sitting on the hospital bed.

 

Kraglin flips him off, Peter sticks his tongue out at him in response and adds  “So, is my inheritance still good?”

 

“Don’t know all the legal bullshit but it should be since it was your momma’s money an’ all,” Yondu says, shifting until he’s just standing at Kraglin’s side and can actually see Peter.

 

“Good!” Peter grins, “Then I’m gonna buy my old house back! An’ we can fix it up real nice like it used to be! An’ I’ll get you one o’ them cars you like an’ we can paint it red!”

 

“Well, you still gotta few weeks ‘fore you can go git the money…”

 

“I can wait!” Peter shouts.

 

“Some girl’s out in the waitin’ room,” Kraglin says, “Said she was Gamora’s sister or somethin’.” 

 

At the mention of Gamora’s name, Peter jumps up. He does so just a little bit too quickly and his vision swims, but he remains upright. 

 

“Is she okay? Can we go see her?”

 

“Dunno, but we can go find out.” 

 

* * *

 

Nebula is already in the room when everyone else gets there. She had the decency to wake up Mantis, who is sitting on the bed, kicking her feet idly and rambling at Gamora about how she’s never seen a hospital before.

 

Gamora smiles weakly when Peter waves at her, “I told you I’d be fine!”

 

“I know! But I was worried!” Peter jumps up onto the bed too.

 

Kraglin sighs and says something he never thought he’d say a second time, “Y’all can stay with us. Just for a while, but for as long as you need to get everythin’ together. Course we can’t all fit in the trailer but ‘parently Pete’s buyin’ a house.”  

 

Yondu laughs, “Well shit, Krags, you never struck me as the ‘big family’ type.”

 

“Well, Mantis is pretty much Peter’s sister an’ them girls just watched their pa get arrested, plus, their house is a crime scene now...”

 

Nebula grits her teeth at the mention of Thanos, “He was never a father to either of us.”

 

Kraglin gives her an understanding look, “An’ Gamora helped us fix the mess Ego made of our lives. It’s the least we can do.”

 

“I want Thanos to pay for what he’s done,” Nebula’s voice sounds dark and Kraglin finally looks her up and down. There’s a story behind her black eye, one he probably knows all too well.

 

“There’s gonna be a trial, can’t be here ‘cos they can’t find an  _ impartial _ ,” Yondu adds in air quotes, “Jury. If it was up to me, I’d have ‘em both shot. No jury needed.”

 

“I will stay until the trial’s over. If only to watch his eyes the moment he realizes that I’ve just helped to end his life,” Nebula glares at the wall like Thanos is standing on the other side of it and she might be able to telepathically will his brain to melt.

 

Kraglin grins at her, “Sounds fun.”

 

She returns the expression, eyes still dark and intense, “It will be.”

 

Peter looks over to Gamora, who gives a small smile, “I guess I don’t have anywhere else to go…”

 

* * *

 

The next morning, Yondu drives out to Stakar’s old apartment building with Kraglin and Peter in tow. He hopes the man still lives there, even after nine years. He leads them up the familiar stairs to the apartment on the top floor. Then he knocks on the door. It takes a few minutes, but the door opens.

 

“Yondu Udonta. Long time, no see!” Stakar smiles, clapping Yondu on the shoulder, “You turned out just fine.” 

 

“No help from you,” Yondu says, but there’s no venom behind the words.

 

“On the contrary,” Stakar laughs, “Kickin’ you out sure seemed to work for you. I’m proud.”

 

“You alright?” Yondu can’t exactly meet his eyes, he still ended up dragging Stakar into all of this despite all his attempts to do otherwise.

 

Stakar sighs, “Ego’s an asshole but he only needed me to get to you.”

 

Peter stares at him, brows furrowed, then blurts out, “You look just like Rocky. Like, y’know, the boxer from the movies.”

 

Stakar laughs, “Shoulda seen me when I was younger, kid,” he turns back to Yondu, “That your boy?”

 

Yondu freezes for a second, there are a lot of things he could say, all of them long and complicated and none of them completely true. 

 

He grins, looking over at Peter, “Yeah, he is.”


End file.
